Published 7:00 pm, Saturday, October 27, 2001

One was a cool, gentle breeze. The other was Dobie High School cross country runner Brian McKinstry breezing to another title.

Turning in a time on the three-mile course that was almost unhuman, McKinstry waltzed to the District 22-5A medalist championship with a time of 14 minutes, 32 seconds.

By ROBERT AVERY

McKinstry sparked Dobie to 45 points and second place, clinching a berth to the Region III race next Saturday in Huntsville.

The other team success for the Pasadena schools came on the girls side as Pasadena bagged a rare berth to the Region III meet by nailing down the third and final regional berth.

With all five runners crossing the finish line inside the first 25, Pasadena held off rival South Houston 96-106 for the desired prize.

As expected, Kingwood captured the district title in both the boys and girls divisions with 24 and 17 points, respectively. Humble captured second place in the girls with 54 points, while Humble nipped Sam Rayburn for the third-place prize by a 94-95 count in the boys race.

For head coach Rhonda Foster's boys program, it marks the seventh time in the last nine years that a Dobie runner has captured a district cross country meet's fastest time.

But Friday's victory for McKinstry was his third straight and easily his fastest. He won last year's district crown in 14:58. His sophomore year he won the 23-5A crown in 16:09.

"I thought Brian ran great. He ran what we planned for," said Foster.

Some coaches felt the course wasn't quite a full three miles in distance, but whether it was or not, McKinstry's time still boggles the mind.

McKinstry's show Friday may have been a preview to a state championship. The state meet is 3.1 miles long and Foster feels McKinstry has the ability to break 15 minutes over that distance, a personal goal of his.

Even the opposing coaches recognize McKinstry as something special.

"There's no doubt in my mind (he can win state)," said Pasadena coach Charlie Goehring. "It's been a while since we've had a great one. (Scott) Lengefeld was really the last great one."

Until McKinstry's arrival, Lengefeld, another star Dobie distance runner, owned the fastest times. Until last year's race, Lengefeld's 1994 time of 15:15 was placed in the Superman category.

Dobie went 1-4-11-13-16 through the finish chute for its prize. With the help of McKinstry and Louis Cavazos, who placed fourth overall, Dobie was giving Kingwood all they could handle.

But the Mustangs then placed its three remaining scoring runners in the Top 10 to pull away.

"We didn't beat Kingwood but we were going up against the best team in the nation," said Foster.

Dobie's Tommy Parker captured 11th with the time of 15:51, Chris McKinstry followed in 13th at 16:03 and Dominique Shackelford snared 16th at 16:19. Peter Strange and Elias Todriguez rounded out Dobie's contingent.

Kingwood's Matt Munoz followed McKinstry, but he was a distant 30 seconds back at a splendid 15:02. Under normal circumstances that would have won the race, but then McKinstry is no normal high school runner. Teammate Brian Duplachin was also at 15:02 for third place.

Individually, South Houston's Enrique Carbajal, who finished in 35th place at last year's 22-5A race, ran a terrific race this time to earn the seventh-fastest time with a 15:30.

"Our objective was to come in the top 10. He's a dedicated practicer. He's the first to arrive and the last to leave," said South Houston coach Tom Joy. "Whatever he gets at regionals will be gravy."

Joy felt last week's quad meet with the other PISD schools helped Carbajal, who was the only South Houston representative in the season's biggest run.

"Racing against the Dobie kids last week made him realize what he needed to do," said Joy.

Sam Rayburn was forced to finish in fourth place for the second straight year. But considering the Texans failed to even field a complete team in 1999, the back-to-back fourth-place finishes is a move in the right direction.

The Texans did get one to regionals in Eric Rivera, who hit the finish in 15:37, good for 10th place. The rest of the scoring team went 15-20-25-26.

Luis Garcia was 15th at 16:10, followed by Greg Castro at 16:26, Josh Gonzales at 16:34 and David Zapien two seconds back of Gonzales.

Pasadena head coach Denise Pearce asked just one thing of her girls and that was to tighten the pack ever so slightly. Getting all five scoring runners within 11 positions of each other did the trick.

"They ran the best they've run all year. They saved their best for last," said Pearce.

Ana Vidal led the way with a 12:33 run over the two-mile course. Denise Saucedo was 16th at 12:46, Crystal Gonzalez captured 20th at 12:51 and the duo of Veri Figueroa and Heather Wisnieski placed 23rd and 24th, respectively at 13:04 each.

Penny Montalvan and Tara Hughes also competed for Pearce's team with the two cornering 27th and 28th place, respectively.

South Houston, which had won its last two meetings with the other PISD teams, had to settle for fourth and 106 points.

The team was 14-18-19-25-30 through the chute. Cynthia Silva scored the fastest run at 12:44. Amelia Pena (12:49), LeAnne Henry (12:50), Madlyn Soto (13:09) and LaToya Sowell (13:33) completed the Trojan picture.

Sam Rayburn, didn't get a team to regionals like last year, but it will still be represented at regionals thanks to the performance of Danielle Springer.

Springer, just a sophomore, claimed ninth place with a 12:04 run over the two-mile course. Springer was the first non-Humble ISD runner to reach the finish line. Seven Kingwood runners and one Humble athlete preceded Springer to the chute.

"I thought she could slide in the Top 10," said Rayburn coach Joan Walker-Propp. "I thought we could get a duo in there with (Sarah) Bailey."

Bailey placed 22nd at 13:01, followed by Mariel Sturm at 13:23, Melissa Hicks at 13:46 and Christine Garza at 13:47. As a group, Rayburn went 9-22-29-31-32. Cindy Salinas and Jennifer McCoy also raced for the Texans.

Nika Arbabian led Dobie with a 26th place, but the best the Longhorns could do was compile 176 points for sixth.

Now Playing:

The times as a whole were fast. The conditions were ideal for the runners. The course was flat and the morning temperatures at 9 a.m. were perfect for runners.